The real stories from inside the F1 paddock

In a place with no time

It’s 03.27 in the morning in Sochi and the Internet is working. This is good. It has been a rough couple of days for the F1 circus. All the folks at home who spout forth on the subject of F1 being in crisis, or why it would be better to have parachutes on the back of cars, don’t think that the people who are going to the races are not in crisis at all. They are doing their jobs and that means travelling. Getting from Japan to Sochi may sound easy, but the logic of air travel can be bizarre. Sochi may be a pretty spot (I don’t know it is dark) but it is not an easy place to fly to, unless you start from Yekaterinburg, Kazan or Ufa. So we did what we could do and people flew from Tokyo, from Nagoya and from Osaka. One lot spent eight hours on a bullet train, looking at a sunny Mount Fuji because Typhoon Doris was blowing a gale. We had no such troubles. The typhoon waltzed through in the very, very small hours of Monday morning but by lunchtime it was gone and it was sunny. We had a late lunch and then set off from the town of Shiroko, bound for Osaka Kansai International Airport. The plane was full of F1 folk, all going to Dubai, but after that the crew exploded in different directions. Some went to Moscow, some went to London, some went to Paris, or Nice. The logic of air travel is often complicated. I went Dubai, Paris, Zurich, Moscow, Sochi. I spent a night in Paris with my wife. We went to a Japanese restaurant. Just after I left Zurich I received a text from Damon Hill saying that he was going Zurich, Istanbul, Sochi. This is life in F1 at the moment. We are all on planes that pass in the night. We went through Moscow Domodedovo Airport picking up stray F1 people, until we were quite a gaggle and we all ended up in a lounge where the beer was free, but you had to pay for wine. We spent a long time there. The food would frighten household pets, but the man from The Sun tried the meatballs and was still alive when I last saw him a few minutes ago. We flew on a plane the colour of Kermit the Frog, run by an airline called S7, which used to be called Siberia Airlines. It was OK. There wasn’t much space but half the passengers looked like fashion models. There were some happy, helpful people at the airport who were there to help us find our way about. The airport was filled with F1 photos and advertising. This is usually a good sign. We’re staying in what I guess was the Olympic Village, now a hotel, and it’s fine. I just cannot sleep. My internal clock is quite broken.

thanks for the road trip report Joe .. hope you will have a couple of hours of good sleep ..
Ps let us know tomorow if the guy from the Sun survive? .. we don’t want some diplomatic difficulties before the race ..

Sorry to hear Joe, but it is appropriate that your internal clock is working like a 1960’s Soviet Five-year Agricultural plan. Here’s to hoping for a more “normal” race weekend; not to forget, but to move forward.

Love these insights, without them one might be forgiven for thinking the world of an F1 journo was all glamour and zipping around on easy, direct flights.

Perhaps all the F1 press being in somewhat chaotic transit is the reason that mistranslated Jean Todt ‘quote’ about Schumacher managed to find its way onto most of the Fleet Street websites and 90% of the ‘specialist’ F1 sites…

There are lots of reasons why travel routings are decided: frequent flyer schemes, family, cost, when the trip was booked. etc etc. Not everyone can pick the most direct route and pay whatever is asked. If life was that easy we’d all fly on private jets.

Thanks for sharing bits from your travel with the F1 troops, it makes up for a fun read in between races, as much as it adds to our overall GK on the stuff that happens around F1 races. Sochi is one place I doubt if I will ever travel to, but thanks to you I now know for sure, that its surprisingly difficult one to reach.

My view on the Russian political situation and the propaganda potential involved in the race remains the same. However, I am happy to say good things about the good things I see in Russia. I am not a propaganda tool for the CIA. Now will I be for the Russians. I will just be me and I will say what I think.

Morning Joe and Mikus…..your trip sounded exhausting.
I am looking forward to hearing your views on the American Empires political situation, and the propaganda potential of running an F1 race in Austin Texas. Your F1 commentary is great and very knowledgeable.Your geopolitical knowledge however…not so much!

Oh, I’m terribly sorry to disappoint you. Do you work in the State Department, or are you just an enthusiastic amateur who think he knows all the answers because he read it in Pravda or the New York Times?

Great insight to the ‘wonderful world’ of F1! Thanks for the update Joe, we shall read the websites and watch the day to day events unfold from the luxury of our sitting rooms, now I know how you guys earn your money and are the true ‘dedicated’ followers of F1!

The horror of modern travel – jet lag. I remember going to Singapore, and shortly after arriving my body was telling me it was time to get up at 2am in the morning. I ended up watching an almighty lightning storm from my hotel window which basically tuned night into day, which for anyone who has been there and witnessed this will know, is quite a thing to behold.

I don’t believe there’s anywhere else on the whole of the interweb where this side of the F1 lifestyle gets told so well.

For all the insightful analysis of the latest news etc you report, it’s always these articles I find to be the most entertaining – whether the tale is good or bad, it’s great to read about the truth of simply following the F1 circus.

If you could translate this into something close to English it might help. A Britt is a lady from Sweden. A Brit is a person from Britain (in slang terms). I have no idea what B cook in Heathrow means and the rest of it is gibberish. You also seem to unaware that I live in France, as the post says. I am happy to have intelligent feedback. This is not intelligent.

1 I’ve sympathy with you on two counts right now Joe: (1) what you have to go through in the name of the calendar; and (2) what you have being saying about the majority of ‘journalistic articles’ and lay opinions that have been written in the past week. The fact is, whether your internal clock is broken or not…you still write better and more informatively than 99% of the gibberish out there…but you knew that…and we are grateful! P.S. not to be too sycophantic but have you ever tried Bouillon Chartier on Rue du Faubourg Montmartre? Would just be interested to know your opinion…in no way can it be considered high end but it is one of my favourite restaurants in Paris.

Free beer? Not sure if it’s still the case, but I understand Russian beer is usually so bad that they HAVE to give it away.
If it’s any condolence to you, it’s 4:26am where I am on this little 2 mile x 4 mile island, one hundred miles from the mainland and where the Gulf Stream originates, awake with bats in my head about one of the people who works for me, as a drummer (figures) who’s bringing personal mayhem to our band. Glad I’m not him and glad I didn’t have to deal with flying to Sochi. Glad you made it safe. BTW, is Vettel’s single year contract really $80M?

Time was [was it not] when the elite of drivers and F1 personnel had their own private aircraft, taking shortest route A to B, unless I am mistaken?
Those earning 20m+ surely don’t have to endure the itineraries of scheduled airlines?

If I’m honest, I don’t envy Joe this Marco Polo life of intrepid travel. Yesterday, I drove Oxford – Henley – Chiswick, stopping for a bite of lunch at Marlow.
Greater adventure I did not seek. I will watch the action on my telly, as usual, then potter about the garden with a glass of wine.
Your health, Joe.!

Good to see your ‘up and at them’ Joe.. Any news on Marussia and who will be driving in Jules place this weekend, seems wrong to ask but I’m presuming they have to field a car? And are they affected by the problems with the Marussia Manor racing shutdown?

Hi Joe, aren’t there a few drivers suggesting changes like mandated safety cars, maximum speed limits and enclosed cockpits? I know the at home crowd may be spouting a lot of hyperbolic nonsense – but when these elite drivers start complaining it can’t be written off surely? I know they are brave and daring and much more high risk personalities than regular people – but it does sound as if several of them (and some of the Williams team) are advocating major changes.

“Fashion models”. Somehow my mind wonders if they are girls for hire which would fit the Korean hotels. The next question is, does that business get a boost when the F1 circus is in town? Any thoughts Joe?

No. It is an insight about a very small percentage of them. Most of my readers are very sensible people, who do not make a lot of comments because they are happy to read, learn and be entertained. They don’t think that they know better than everyone else and are not arrogant. Alas, some of the others are the epitome of the worst kind of trolls. I try to give people a say if they are not ridiculous but sometimes people deserve two barrels of the shotgun.

Joe, pardon my ignorance but do you actually read all the comments following your posts to “vet” them? If that’s the case, as it seems to be from what you say…, that seems like a pretty massive amount of work! It makes me appreciate what you do even more – thank you.

“It is an insight about a very small percentage of them. Most of my readers are very sensible people, who do not make a lot of comments because they are happy to read, learn and be entertained. They don’t think that they know better than everyone else and are not arrogant. Alas, some of the others are the epitome of the worst kind of trolls.”

Hey J(oJ)… do you s’pose he’s talking about the both of us or (gulp) just me?

This is a tricky one. The team is in financial difficulties and Bianchi’s accident was another very tough blow. However, the team gave certain undertakings (as all teams have) to provide two cars for every race, this is why the team has received money up to now from the Commercial Rights Holder. The team can just present two cars for scrutineering and that will be enough, as long it has made reasonable efforts to take part in an active way. There is force majeure, but this normally only covers such things as war, insurrection, earthquake, riot, fire and flood and does not include lack of cash or equipment. So, under the contractual terms of the sport, Marussia does need to run two cars. I would hope that once a team has entered a car for scrutineering and named a driver, it will run him. It is not fair to do anything else. There is no doubt that the current owner of Marussia needs to get out of the way. The feeling has been for some time that he was hanging on until Sochi, because his ego would not allow him to fail before the Russian GP. If there truly are serious people out there willing to buy the team, then he should stand down and let someone else do the job that he had failed to do.

From what I read elsewhere (which might be true or the usual rubbish written), Bernie Ecclestone is aware of the possibility that they may not run 2 cars but will not do anything to prevent them running only one or seek any redress. Everyone, especially the team, were in too much pain to be burdened with contractual wrangling at this point. From Ecclestones point of view at least, there is obviously the bad PR it would bring.

From what I read on the BBC website this morning, Marussia are only running one car as a mark of respect to Bianchi.

can’t second that comment re Russian beer…try Baltika No 7. Delightful. And tho I only spent 6 weeks in Russia/Siberia, the food was fine. A bona fide Russian borscht made by a local Siberianka (Siberian woman) is just out of this world. Any world, even the world of the jaded F1 scribe, I wager.

I wonder how many people are in this ‘circus’ you mention, Joe? Wouldn’t it be more efficient to have team planes? I am sure Red Bull among others must have their own planes. Fun to read along with your travels. Thanks.

Joe’s travel stories tend to make me think of DSJ’s Continental notes, which graced the pages of Motorsport mag for many years. I liked his tales of travelling around Europe in a Porsche 356 or Jaguar E Type, and going from country to country following the races. Sparked my interest in foreign travel….which does broaden the mind !

Maybe they’re mad at him because, although it could be (or could not be) true that there is concern amongst the drivers, he should shut up in public and seek to sort these matters out behind closed doors. It is not the time or the place at the moment, nor is it a good idea to wash any dirty linen in public.

But when would be a good time to discuss it? After somebody dies? Can he discuss it then?

I’m not claiming Perez is some kind of safety hero like some notable drivers have been in the past. But drivers with racing pedigrees far stronger than Sergio’s have made their colleagues mad by talking out loud about the ways that needless danger was tolerated and tacitly encouraged, and insisting that changes needed to be made.

Seems to me that Sergio was saying little more than the FIA needs to fix the slack way that double-yellows are handled… which the FIA obviously does if it’s really true that only a slight lift is required in response to what are labeled by the FIA as highly dangerous conditions.

Interesting suggestion by one of his commentors on there: that any driver who passes the first double waved yellow over 100 mph gets a stop-go – one second per mph over 100. Any driver who passes the second waved yellow without the pit lane speed limiter on gets a 20-second stop-go.

Well, that would be fine if going too fast under d-y’s put only the driver at risk… but since being irresponsible in those circumstances puts marshals and other on-scene innocents at risk too, I’d vote for a black flag, no warnings… I bet that alone would change some behavior promptly…

It would be different if the rule’s requirements for driver behavior were namby-pamby but they’re not… it gives the driver surprising (to me) latitude… the penalty should be appropriate for ignoring such an important responsibility….

Joe, I don’t understand your sentence around the home armchair parachute promoters, not at all, the sentence, I mean. Obviously nobody suggesting ideas, no matter how unusual, meant other than to contemplate helping, in whatever way, but i sense from your words a frustration with armchair commentators, at a upsetting time, and that’s okay. Just the connecting next words i think got lost in tiredness. You’re as critical as anyone about other kinds of crisis. Only unprintables are trying to mix this with any other problem. I can’t imagine how upsetting it all is, right now. I’m upset, in a whole way i didn’t think i would get again, I went off line just to leave it all be, for a few days. But, really, no-one suggesting parachutes or any other wild scheme is being inadequate some way because they are wracking their brains, wanting to undo a awful accident. I hope the coming days bring us all better rest, and better news.